The Conference "Signal Transduction Determining the Fate of Stem Cells" will be held from August 9 through August 12, 2003, at the Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. This meeting is sponsored and partially funded by the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). This conference is the only international meeting this year that focuses on signal transduction in stem cells and is open to a significant number of young scientists who are not established members of the field. In this application we request partial funding for the 2003 conference. Clinical application of stem cells in human disease requires an understanding of the stem cell and the long-term behavior of cells derived from stem cells. Understanding the behavior and properties of stem cells requires the integration of several disciplines in biomedical research. For example, we are just beginning to understand the role of cytokines and extracellular matrices in determining the fate of stem cells. Little is known of intracellular signaling pathways that control stem cell fate. The purpose of this conference is to bring together investigators from two disciplines, stem cell biology and signal transduction, in an attempt to initiate a collaborative effort for understanding signaling pathways that control the fate of stem cells in culture and animals. In the first three scientific sessions of the 2003 ASCB Summer Conference, we will discuss signal transduction pathways regulating self-renewal, plasticity and differentiation of stem cells. In the forth session, we will focus on analogy and difference of stem cells with cancer cells, where signal transduction has been intensively studied. In addition, the final session will introduce emerging ideas and techniques that would facilitate signal transduction studies in stem cells. These sessions will consist of a mixture of invited talks and presentations to be selected based on submitted abstracts. The latter speakers will be chosen with special attention to younger investigators and exciting recent developments. There will also be a poster session. The format of the Conference, and its small size, are designed to foster interactions among the 225 participants.